Above, the Dreadnought, completed 1906, constituted a one-ship naval revolution. After the British had upped the ante in the battleship arms race, suddenly dreadnought-type ships were a must-have for every self-respecting navy. But in particular the Germans took up the challenge, resulting in a hard-fought arms race which lasted through 1916. As the War proceeded, however, it became evident (1) that the issue would not be decided at sea and (2) that winning the land war would require all the belligerents' resources. In 1916 both France and Germany canceled all new battleship construction. Germany concentrated on minelaying and submarine warfare for the rest of the War, while Britain, after winning the arms race by 1916, ended up with a rather confused strategy resulting in a number of surplus battlecruisers which ended up as aircraft carriers -- Fisher's infamous "large light cruisers" carrying 15" guns, but paper-thin armor. Here is your guide through the confusing maze of dreadnought warship classes and one-offs in the run-up to the Great War.
For complete statistics on the ships, (with no pictures), consult World Battleships List. For a class-by-class analysis with plans and limited photos, see World War 1.co.uk.
Above, HMS Vanguard was one of the earliest British dreadnoughts. Like her contemporaries, she carried 2/5 of her main armament in wing turrets. Compared to the Dreadnought, the ship was 1,500 tons larger. The foremast was moved closer to the bridge to avoid the smoke interference which bedeviled the original Dreadnought's spotters. The mainmast was a tripod of equal size, as in the preceding Bellerophon class ships; but the Royal Navy soon settled on a large, busy tripod foremast and a stump main (a mere mizzen, really) as seen in the King George Vs and Iron Dukes. After the Vanguard, the next quantum design leap in the British fleet came with the Orions and Iron Dukes, the switch to all-centerline superfiring turrets and 13.5" Mk V guns. After performing reliably for eight years and fighting at Jutland, Vanguard unexpectedly blew up at her moorings in Scapa Flow around midnight on July 9, 1917. There were two survivors; 843 perished. Unstable cordite propellant was suspected as the cause.
Relevant Web Resources
- HMS Dreadnought (1906)
- Chronology of the Pre-WWI Naval Arms Race
- Cost of the Pre-WWI Naval Arms Race: Detail of British Expenditure
- Cost of the Pre-WWI Naval Arms Race: Detail of German Expenditure
- The Semi-Dreadnoughts: Second-Best Alternative
- Haze Gray's World Battleships List
- Battleships Class by Class with Plans: World War 1.co.uk
- Sole Surviving WWI Dreadnought: USS Texas of 1914
